Former US vice-president Mike Pence filed paperwork Monday to launch his presidential campaign in 2024, according to Federal Election Commission documents.
Pence, who has served as vice president under the Trump administration, is expected to formally begin his campaign for the Republican nomination on Wednesday, as a Pence spokesperson confirmed in the FEC filings.
The former vice president who served under the Trump administration is expected to enter a primary field that has been overshadowed by the populist perspectives of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and current front-runner Donald Trump with a more typically conservative viewpoint.
Pence has previously served more than ten years in the US House, including one term as governor of Indiana, solidifying his reputation as a steadfast conservative, CNBC reported.
Moreover, as he sets out to secure the support of a party that is still primarily devoted to Trump, significant obstacles await him in his bid for the White House.
He has routinely performed better than some of his competitors in polls of the probable primary field, scoring in the “low to mid-single digits,” the report said.
His campaign is beginning weeks, if not months, later than many of his rivals, including Trump and DeSantis, who are now leading the pack in the polls.
Additionally, Pence became a target for other Republicans due to his disagreement with Trump regarding the 2020 race.
According to a recent Quinnipiac University poll, 35% of Republican registered voters indicated they had a negative opinion of Pence, which is much higher than the ratings given to Trump (11%), DeSantis (5%) and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley (12%).
Trump is still the Republican to beat in the 2024 primary, despite the fact that his support in the Republican establishment appeared to be dwindling after the Capitol riot and the 2022 midterm elections.
According to polls, he is in the lead among potential primary rivals and has a strong hold on the GOP base of voters, which makes up a substantial portion of the electorate.
Prior to announcing his campaign, Pence made a few subtle barbs at his old employer, saying that there would be “better candidates” than Trump in 2024.
Furthermore, he suggested that Trump deserved blame for the GOP’s underperformance in the 2022 midterms.
“Our candidates that were focused on the past, particularly on relitigating the last election, did not do well,” Pence told CNBC in an apparent reference to Trump, who has made his denial of the 2020 election results a central theme of his 2024 campaign.
